A traffic stop for an improperly displayed license plate has landed a 49-year-old man in jail after almost 300 pounds of marijuana was found in his pickup truck.

An Oklahoma City police officer pulled over Rodney Bonner shortly after 1:30 a.m. Monday near Interstate 40 and Meridian Avenue because his Ford truck's license plate had a dark-tinted plastic cover on it, making it difficult to read, according to a probable-cause affidavit. The officer went to the back of the truck with a camper shell, where he saw a large bale that was believed to contain marijuana.

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Bonner denied transporting marijuana and did not answer when the officer asked if he could search the truck bed, the affidavit said. A passenger also did not answer when the officer asked about the bale.

Bonner and the passenger said they were driving home from Warsaw, Missouri, to Phoenix, Arizona, but they gave different answers for why they were going home.

A K-9 officer was called to the scene, and the officer positively alerted police of the presence of drugs. Police found 299 pounds of marijuana in 11 bales, according to the affidavit.

Bonner was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on counts of trafficking in illegal drugs.